The "birth" of non-stick cookware

The "birth" of non-stick cookware

Polytetrafluoroethylene (Polytetrafluoroethylene), abbreviated as PTFE, the products of this material are generally referred to as "non-stick coating"; is a synthetic polymer material that uses fluorine to replace all hydrogen atoms in polyethylene. This material has the characteristics of acid and alkali resistance, resistance to various organic solvents, almost insoluble in all solvents. At the same time, PTFE has the characteristics of high temperature resistance, it has a very low coefficient of friction, so it can be used as a way to lubricate the role, but also become the ideal coating for non-stick pans and the inner layer of water pipes.

PTFE was accidentally discovered in 1938 by chemist Dr. Roy J. Plunkett in DuPont's Jackson Laboratory in New Jersey, USA, when he tried to make a new chlorofluorocarbon refrigerant and PTFE polymerized in a high-pressure storage container (the iron on the inside of the container became the catalyst for the polymerization reaction). DuPont patented it in 1941 and registered it under the name "Teflon" in 1944. Subsequently, DuPont developed a series of products in addition to Teflon® PTFE resins, including Teflon; AF (amorphous fluoropolymer), Teflon; FEP (fluorinated ethylene propylene resin), Teflon; FFR (fluoropolymer foam resin), Teflon; NXT (fluoropolymer resin), Teflon; PFA (perfluorinated alkoxy resin), and others. In 1954, Colette, the wife of French engineer Marc Gregoire, had the idea that Teflon, the non-stick material her husband used to coat fishing line to prevent tangles, would work well in frying pans. This was the birth of the "non-stick frying pan" that has saved countless modern housewives.